


Orange Blossoms

by adwox



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alcohol, Awkwardness, Flirting, Fluff, Gay Bar, Implied/Referenced Sexual Assault, M/M, Social Anxiety, see notes for more details/warnings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-09
Updated: 2018-06-09
Packaged: 2019-05-20 00:44:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,596
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14884379
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/adwox/pseuds/adwox
Summary: Rainbow shots taste a lot better when shared with a partner (or stranger).





	Orange Blossoms

**Author's Note:**

> warnings: this fic takes place at a gay club, and theres lots of drinking. theres hints/references to some complicated themes like potential alcohol abuse, sexual assault, and anxiety.  
> this was supposed to be pwp, but that obviously didnt happen, so im highly considering writing a smutty sequel to this [-;

Kyungsoo just wants to go home.

 

He isn’t even sure why he agreed to go to a club in the first place. Sure, he was invited by Sehun, but they lost sight of each other within the first five minutes of their arrival-- something about him catching up with old friends, if he remembers correctly.

Kyungsoo doesn’t have anyone to catch up to.

He’s heard of people being wallflowers at university parties before, but never at dance clubs. Even less so at _high-end underground_ _queer_ dance clubs. At the ripe age of twenty-four, surely the world would have more to offer than a dirty foldable chair in the corner of the dance floor.

There he was, surveying the crowd, watching the varying ways people were interacting with each other. He cringes at the sight of two people in the midst of making out trip over someone else, who seems to be too intoxicated to even care that the pair just made them spill their drink.

His eyes dart over to the bar across the room, and resists the urge to roll his eyes at the bartender dressed in all black (bowtie included) shaking a rainbow striped cocktail mixer like his life depends on it. He watches the flow of people dart in and out of the bathroom, finding it ironic that most of the party-goers were loitering around the least attractive part of the entire club.

Though he can see most of the LED dance-floor from this angle, Kyungsoo is still unable to locate Sehun. He toys with the idea of calling him and opens up his phone, but doesn’t make it past the password screen. It’s not like he would be able to hear his phone go off anyway.

Kyungsoo considers simply getting up and leaving. He can always send a text explaining where he went off to, he reminds himself, trying to push away the sudden wave of guilt that hits him. Eventually, he decides _fuck it_ and gets ready to leave, placing his hands on the edge of his seat so he has the momentum to get up. However, before he can properly go all the way up, someone runs over to the wall beside him and slides down to the floor.

Kyungsoo tries his best not to stare, but the person is out of breath and clapping their legs repeatedly against each other, and he finds it almost louder than the bass-heavy club music. The person seems to catch onto Kyungsoo staring, and promptly stops moving their legs, and looks in the opposite direction of him. Feeling partially responsible for the stranger’s stiffness, Kyungsoo leans down slightly to get their attention.

“Hey,” he starts, borderline shouting over the music, “what are you doing over here? Shouldn’t you be dancing at a club like this?”

The stranger turns around to face Kyungsoo, and he feels his heart temporarily stop. _Cute, cute, cute,_ Kyungsoo brain repeats in the back of his head as the stranger stares at him with wide, almond shaped eyes.

Though cute, the stranger looks visibly distressed. “I mean, I was,” they shout back, “but I got seperated from my friends, and then some other stuff happened.”

Kyungsoo nods in understanding, then furrows his brows. “Other stuff?”

The stranger shakes their head and brings their knees close to their chest, hugging them. “Bad stuff. I feel gross.”

Kyungsoo isn’t sure what to do, since he doesn’t know anything about them, but he chooses to get off the chair and sit down next to the person. The floor is sticky and covered in dust by the corner, but he tries to play it off by turning to face the stranger properly. “Um, do you wanna say your name and pronouns...? If you’re comfortable, that is.”

“Oh, uh, Chanyeol, and he/him,” the stranger replies, looking relieved that Kyungsoo asked for his pronouns (or possibly because he didn’t inquire about his night, he thinks). “I’m sorry if I bothered you.”

Kyungsoo shakes his head, and Chanyeol smiles at him timidly. “I’m Kyungsoo, age twenty-four, and I use he/him pronouns as well,” he introduces himself. “You’re not bothering me at all. It’s a public space, you know. It’s okay for you to be here.”

Chanyeol makes a low sound of what seems to be distress.

“And it’s definitely okay for you to be sharing the same space as me,” Kyungsoo quickly adds, feeling his palms grow more sweaty with each passing moment. “I just hope you’re okay…? If that’s also okay to say.”

“Oh yeah, that’s fine,” Chanyeol reassures immediately, much to Kyungsoo’s thanks. “I just don’t wanna talk about it, and I really don’t’ think it would be a good idea to throw all my problems onto someone I don’t even know anyway. You know?”

Kyungsoo nods, feeling too nervous to directly agree with the fact that _yes, dumping all your problems on to strangers is in fact not a good idea_. “Well, I’m glad you’re fine.”

“Yep,” Chanyeol shrugs, emphasizing the _p_. When he doesn’t say anything else, Kyungsoo shifts in his seat, dreading the seemingly unavoidable awkward silence. Chanyeol clears his throat, and it sounds much louder than the EDM currently blaring out of the speaker a few feet away from the two of them..

“By the way, also I’m twenty-four,” Chanyeol finally blurts out, like he’s been waiting for the perfect moment to say it. Kyungsoo doesn’t miss the way he’s eyeing him up and down. “Wanna get something to drink?” Before he can determine whether he’s being hit on or not, Chanyeol’s entire demeanor changes in an instant. “Your call, obviously! I was thinking about ordering some shots, and thought maybe you’d like to join me… I’m pretty bad at reading other people’s intentions tonight, it seems. I don’t even know if you drink.”

This time, Kyungsoo audibly laughs, and Chanyeol beams at the sound. “Don’t worry, I do,” he says. Sure, I’ll come with you.” Chanyeol take his hand and leads him across the dance floor. “But also, shouldn’t you look for your friends?”

Chanyeol shakes his head. “I already tried,” he explains, “but I couldn’t find anyone. They were meeting up with other people though, so I’m sure they’re fine.”

Kyungsoo raises his eyebrows at the last bit, but chooses to not respond. Instead, he squeezes Chanyeol’s hand, imagining waves of empathy and understanding flowing from his hand to Chanyeol’s.

 

Chanyeol wiggles his hand away from Kyungsoo’s to gesture at a metallic blue bar seat next and orders two bottles of orange soju for the both of them.

“You don’t have to pay for me,” Kyungsoo says as he watches Chanyeol slide one of the bottles toward him.

“I offered, so…” Chanyeol shrugs.

“Are you this nice to every stranger you meet?” Kyungsoo asks, genuinely curious, and takes a long sip of his drink.

Chanyeol fumbles, nearly knocking his own drink over in the process. “I… maybe? No? I dunno. I mean, yes to being nice to strangers, no to offering drinks to people I just met. Well, almost no.”

Kyungsoo wants to ask _why me_ , but he’s known Chanyeol for approximately six minutes and would really rather not scare him off with potentially personal questions. Instead, he hums, and downs the majority of his drink in one long sip.

“Is that your way of telling me you want more?” Chanyeol jokes, tapping on his own bottle with his fingernails. Kyungsoo realizes they’re painted a light pastel orange, matching the orange label on the drink, and it makes his chest burn slightly. He begins to regret not taking up on Sehun’s offer to paint his nails black, but the sound of Chanyeol continuously tapping the glass clears the fog in his brain.

Kyungsoo tilts his head to the side, considering his options. “To tell you the truth, I’m not particularly a huge fan of orange stuff. Why don’t I buy you something instead?”

Chanyeol clicks his tongue and taps his cheeks, like he’s racking his brain for ideas. “I can’t tell if asking someone at a gay club you wanna order rainbow shots is something you do after you’ve know them for ten years, or ten minutes.”

Kyungsoo snorts, and he feels his cheeks hurt from frequent smiling. “Ten minutes is good,” he confirms, and turns to the bartender to relay the order.

Six empty shot glasses are placed in front of them moments later, and Chanyeol grins at the sight of the bartender carefully filling each shot glass with a different color. “I haven’t done this in a while,” he says. “Order shots at a bar.”

“Me too,” Kyungsoo nods as he flicks one of the shots, watching the opaque liquid waver slightly. “How long has it been?”

Chanyeol hums. “A few weeks? Maybe a month or two?”

Kyungsoo widens his eyes slightly. “That’s not nearly as long as I was expecting.”

“Why? Do I look like a prude or something?”

Kyungsoo can’t tell if Chanyeol is joking or not, but he shakes his head regardless. “No, it’s just been years for me. My 21st birthday, to be exact.”

“Ah,” Chanyeol nods slowly, his eyes flickering from the shots to Kyungsoo’s face. When he doesn’t say anything else, Kyungsoo lets out a tiny laugh and gestures to their drinks.

“Would you like the warm colors or the cool colors?”

Chanyeol nervously chuckles, but reaches out to push the warm-tone ones towards himself. “I figured you would prefer the cool ones,” he says. “Because, you know, you said you didn’t like orange.”

“I just meant orange the _flavor_ ,” Kyungsoo snorts. “Though honestly, I’ve never seen anyone care this much about the little things I say.”

“First impressions mean a lot to me!” Chanyeol says defensively as he backs up to examine his three shots.

“Well, I think you’re pretty cool so far,” Kyungsoo blurts without thinking, and Chanyeol shifts in his seat.

“Sorry, that was…”  Kyungsoo lowers his voice, feeling his anxiety skyrocket, “I don’t know if that was okay to say. I’m sorry.”

Chanyeol shakes his head, and taps the bar table. “You’re funny. I never said you couldn’t, I just was taken aback, you know? Nice words… they seem to be hard to come by, these days.”

Kyungsoo snorts, and Chanyeol shoots him a crooked smile. “Well, what’s yours?”

“What’s my what?”

“Your favorite color,” Kyungsoo clarifies.

“Oh!” Chanyeol lights up like he’s been waiting for Kyungsoo to ask all this time. “Okay, don’t laugh, but it’s black. But also I really like red, purple, and every shade of blue!”

“And yet you let me have the purple and blue shots,” Kyungsoo teases. “At least you got the red one.”

“I don’t care _that_ much. They all taste the same anyway.”

Kyungsoo smiles again, feeling warm. “Honestly, the bartender is going to think we’re weirdos if we keep chatting about alcohol instead of drinking it,” he motions to their drinks and looks at Chanyeol expectantly.

“Let him think we’re weirdos!” Chanyeol says as he picks up the red and yellow shots, louder and more interpersonal than Kyungsoo normally is okay with. However, there was no time to comment on volume when Chanyeol suddenly downs two shots at once.

“My lips are pretty chapped right now, so I don’t think I could open my mouth wide enough to do something like that without feeling irritated,” Kyungsoo half-heartedly complains as he peers into his green shot. Chanyeol’s eyes flicker down to Kyungsoo’s lips, and he feels his hand twitch at the urge to touch his own lips.

“Well, I just probably have more experience,” Chanyeol says, not acknowledging his previous body language. “You know, since I’m _totally_ a trained professional in the art of alcohol consumption.”

“Oh, of _course_ ,” Kyungsoo snorts before downing the green shot. He expects it to taste like food dye and chemicals, but is pleasantly surprised by the semi-sweet fruitiness which obscures most of the burn. “That’s dangerous.”

Chanyeol hums. “I know. These little guys have a tendency to get me in trouble.”

“What do you mean?”

Chanyeol licks his lips, toying with his final shot-- the orange one. “Nothing really. I guess I’m just complaining about how I’m not very cautious at these kind of establishments.”

Kyungsoo swiftly downs another shot, not checking to see what color he picked up. “Is tonight an exception, at least?”

Chanyeol takes his final shot, but does not answer.

“Um, let me know if I should shouldn’t comment, but...” Kyungsoo lowers his voice, “is it an alcohol issue? Like, I’m not encouraging you… am I?”

“Don’t say that,” Chanyeol protests. “It doesn’t have to do with you. It’s a _me_ problem, you know?” He scoffs, then sighs.

“I know,” Kyungsoo bites his lips. “Did you drink a lot before you ran into me?”

Chanyeol waves a hand around in the air. “Doesn’t matter. I basically sobered up before we went to the bar, and my tolerance is pretty good. Anyway, you’re missing the point. Alcohol has nothing to do with this.”

“Can you tell me what _this_ is…?” Kyungsoo hesitates. “It’s okay if not. Maybe it would help to talk.”

Instead of responding, Chanyeol reaches out for one of Kyungsoo’s shots, who blocks him off by placing his arm protectively between Chanyeol and the alcohol.

“You don’t even want it!” Chanyeol whines as Kyungsoo slides one of the shots out of Chanyeol’s reach, and downs the other.

“You don’t have to tell me,” Kyungsoo explains, slightly tipsy at this point, “but I really don’t want you to get drunk, or more than you are now. Even if it’s not the issue you’re referring to.”

Chanyeol stares at Kyungsoo for a while, and eventually nods. “Okay, I won’t. Sorry for being weird when we’re still strangers.”

Kyungsoo licks his lips. “We don’t have to be, you know. At least I don’t think we should be.” _Strangers also don’t try to nab each other’s alcohol,_ he wants to add, but feels Chanyeol wouldn’t really welcome his dry sense of humor.  

“Strangers?”

Kyungsoo nods.

“I don’t really feel like you’d hurt me,” Chanyeol murmurs, barely audible due to the club’s background noise. “Say,” he taps Kyungsoo on his shoulder, “do you wanna just get out of here?”

“Well what about your friends again?” Kyungsoo questions, hoping it doesn’t come off as an excuse to not continue their night.

“What about yours?” Chanyeol shoots back. “Mine will be fine. I’m more worried about you.”

“What do you mean?”

“I actually saw you with that guy when you arrived,” Chanyeol admits, referencing Sehun. “I took a good look at you... well, _fuck it_. Honestly, I thought you were really cute, and I wanted to talk to you.”

“But?”

“But… then stuff happened.”

 _Ah_. “The bad stuff.”

“Yeah.”

Neither of them say anything for a few moments.

“To be honest, he can fend for himself,” Kyungsoo shrugs.

“Your friend?”

“Mhm,” Kyungsoo nods. “Seriously, don’t worry. He’s a big baby, but he’ll understand. Plus, I want to spend the night with you.”

Chanyeol squeaks.

“Wait, did you not mean it that way?” Kyungsoo nervously asks.

“I want to,” Chanyeol chokes out. “That’s definitely what I meant. Man, I really like you already.”

Kyungsoo smiles softly, and offers his hand for Chanyeol to take, who obliges.

“I like you too. Do you think I could take you back to my place?” Kyungsoo hesitates. “You don’t have to say yes.”

Chanyeol squeezes his hand. “I think I’d like that.”

“Really?”

Chanyeol nods. “Yeah. I’ve always wanted to try and turn the bad into good.”

**Author's Note:**

> to people who follow my work: i did not forget about my ongoing fic _less talk more debauchery!_ its just very important to me that i get the story right and i havent had time to make it right yet, since so much has happened since my last chapter update!
> 
> special thanks to C, my both indirect and direct motivator. i ♡ you!!
> 
> [kpop tumblr](http://tatsmato.tumblr.com) • [main tumblr](http://zazie.tumblr.com) • [current curiouscat](http://curiouscat.me/cnu) • [previous curiouscat [archive]](http://curiouscat.me/channie)


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